I'm cool with Hydra pulling the strings, but there's got to be some Russian involvement so there can be a BW tie.

Maybe the Hydra higher-ups involved in the Winter Soldier brainwashing were Russian & during Cold War Era, when Russia was America's enemy, it made sense for Hydra to ally itself with Russia (like they did with Nazi Germany during WWII).

Makes Hydra sort of unanimous with anti-America parties throughout history and we can watch how it changes itself to better position itself against democracy.